The Tyranny of Structurelessness
by Jo Freeman · first published 1982
62% recommend38% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short 1970s essay on feminist groups arguing that dropping formal structure just creates hidden hierarchies and popularity-driven power. Suits anyone running flat orgs, open source projects, or communes.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"The Tyranny of Structurelessness" is an influential essay by American feminist Jo Freeman that concerns power relations within radical feminist collectives. The essay, inspired by Freeman's experiences in a 1960s women's liberation group, reflected on the experiments of the feminist movement in resisting the idea of leaders and even discarding any structure or division of labor. As Hilary Wainwright wrote in Z Magazine, Freeman described how "this apparent lack of structure too often disguised an informal, unacknowledged and unaccountable leadership that was all the more pernicious because it
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a classic essay discussing the real ground truth problems of decentralized anything is by Jo Freeman, called the tyranny of structurelessness [0]. though most of the punches land toward the end, it is a fascinating and short read, in which she dissects, with the sober disappointment of a former optimistic evangelist, exactly why structureless…
on “Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)” ↗This reminds me of Jo Freeman's excellent essay, "THE TYRANNY of STRUCTURELESSNESS". Based on her experiences within unstructured feminist organizations, I think her insights are broadly generalizable. http://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm
on “210 Zappos employees – 14% of the staff – take buyouts after CEO ultimatum” ↗…such thing as a structureless group. Any group of people of whatever nature that comes together for any length of time for any purpose will inevitably structure itself in some fashion. --Jo Freeman, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" http://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm
on “Why GitHub Finally Abandoned Its Bossless Workplace” ↗> I find myself linking to this article way too much lately, but here it is again: The Tyranny of Structurelessness by Jo Freeman. You should read it. The summary is that in any system, if you don't have an explicit hierarchy, then you have an implicit one. We’ve almost completely discarded “the establishment” because…
on “100 years of whatever this will be” ↗The canonical text on the subject is "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" by Jo Freeman. Freeman was a member of the 70's feminist movement, and wrote this essay to critique how 'flatness' played out - and suggest alternatives. The big, tl;dr idea could be boiled down to…
on ““Weird Paranoia” at Valve, Says Former Employee” ↗…me that was always shining through that argument was that there is always an implicit process and that process is usually ideal for the current people "in power"." Jo Freeman has an essay called "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" which focused on how this issue (lack of explicit process) played out in left-wing political movements in the 1970s, and she does a great job of explaining how the lack of explicit process allows those…
on “The future of PHP, at a distance” ↗…have excess power. 3. If you work for the commune for 20 years and suddenly things go sour on you, you leave out with noting. Everyone who want's to build commune or equal society should start with THE TYRANNY of STRUCTURELESSNESS by Jo Freeman aka Joreen https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm It details power relations within radical feminist collectives,
on “North American Phalanx” ↗For those of you wondering why informal hierarchies can often be worse than formal hierarchies I offer an old but still very relevant essay by Jo Freeman, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness": https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm
on “How to identify an immoral maze” ↗…of system couldn't work, and brought in management. Checks and balances may work to some extent. Power structures usually emerge. There's always going to be an elite class. A great essay called "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" was written by Jo Freeman, a feminist no less. https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm I urge everyone to read it. It will really shape your perspective. It seems to me that pure anarchist societies…
> I find myself linking to this article way too much lately, but here it is again: The Tyranny of Structurelessness by Jo Freeman. You should read it. The summary is that in any system, if you don't have an explicit hierarchy, then you have an implicit one. All hierarchies are structures but not all structures are…
on “100 years of whatever this will be” ↗You may want to read The Tyranny of Structurelessness [1] by feminist Jo Freeman. She explains in detail what happens when you abolish formal hierarchies. Spoiler: informal hierarchies replace them (which you do not recognize as hierarchies, but which nevertheless…
on “FBI obtains Kolektiva.social database while executing warrant on administrator” ↗…structure from an organization is idealistic and inevitably fails. This usually leads to hidden power structures and counter-productive popularity dynamics. A great classic read about this topic is essay "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" by Jo Freeman: https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm The simplest way to encode a structure is with a basic hierarchal structure where power gets delegated and directions flow down from a single…
on “Valve New Employee Handbook (2012) [pdf]” ↗…practice. And when things get tough, the leaders will tend to slide into unproductive bickering that all but precludes actually fixing the problem. Favorite readings that touch on this kind of thing: The Tyranny of Structurelessness by Jo Freeman, and Turn the Ship Around! by David Marquet.
on “Scrum's “Product Owner” Problem” ↗…my view the college town is amongst the more successful of these in the past century or two, though that itself may be based on conditions no longer broadly present. I strongly recommend Jo Freeman's "Tyranny of Structurelessness". https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm I'd strongly recommend going to the communities most affected by the problem at hand and getting their perspective. I don't believe that those oppressed…
on “Ask HN: How do I create a social movement to change the world?” ↗An essay written in 1971, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" really nails the failure forces that are active against structureless orgs, and well as how you can combat those forces. It's one of those essays that is just plain important to read for life, because…
on “Ex-Valve employee describes internal politics at 'self-organizing' companies” ↗